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Is God To Blame?
I have heard some of our believers, young in the faith, question if God is to blame, due to these recent events. I am sure most, if not all, of us here do not believe God is to blame, but for those who might I find this comforting.
"As therefore the physician is a benefactor even if he produces distress or pain in the body, for he fights the illness and not the sick person, so also God is good, who provides salvation to all, through particular punishments. And you do not accuse the physician of any wrong in his cutting and burning and complete mutilations of the body; but rather you probably pay him money and you call him a savior, since he has produced illness in a small part of the body to prevent the suffering from spreading throughout the whole of it. But whenever you see a city fall down on it's inhabitants in an earthquake, or a ship and it's whole crew lost at sea, you do not hesitate to wag your tongue in blasphemy against the true Physician and Savior. And further, one must understand that there are moderate and curable illnesses of human beings, which are helped by care, but whenever the disease is shown to be too severe for treatment, it becomes necessary to cut off the part that has become useless, so that the illness does not continue and proceed to spread into the vital organs. Therefore, as the physician is not the cause of the surgery or the cautery, but the illness is, so also, as the obliteration of cities has its source in the excess of those who have sinned, God is acquitted of all blame."
St. Basil the Great, On the Human Condition, p.68
"As therefore the physician is a benefactor even if he produces distress or pain in the body, for he fights the illness and not the sick person, so also God is good, who provides salvation to all, through particular punishments. And you do not accuse the physician of any wrong in his cutting and burning and complete mutilations of the body; but rather you probably pay him money and you call him a savior, since he has produced illness in a small part of the body to prevent the suffering from spreading throughout the whole of it. But whenever you see a city fall down on it's inhabitants in an earthquake, or a ship and it's whole crew lost at sea, you do not hesitate to wag your tongue in blasphemy against the true Physician and Savior. And further, one must understand that there are moderate and curable illnesses of human beings, which are helped by care, but whenever the disease is shown to be too severe for treatment, it becomes necessary to cut off the part that has become useless, so that the illness does not continue and proceed to spread into the vital organs. Therefore, as the physician is not the cause of the surgery or the cautery, but the illness is, so also, as the obliteration of cities has its source in the excess of those who have sinned, God is acquitted of all blame."
St. Basil the Great, On the Human Condition, p.68
Comments
God Bless and Pray for me and my weakness
This was a great help :). I really love St. Basil and he really beautifully explains why God "produces distress or pain".
Thanks again!!!!
http://orthodoxbookstore.ecrater.com/p/2152159/on-the-human-condition-basil-great
I would just note that the terror attacks were in fact not an act of God, though we can agree that God allowed it to happen - but not to forget that God has also prevented further attacks we were not aware of from being done, whether on the sad days in Naga Hamady, in Alexandria, etc. or later during the Nativity day.
We thus thank the Lord and must constantly pray for Him to protect us in our weakness.
GBU
It limits how much you can read of it but it does give a sample of it. It seems to be very good, and I'll, God willing, start reading it. Thanks for recommending it Ioannes!!
Thanks Ioannes.
This was a great help :). I really love St. Basil and he really beautifully explains why God "produces distress or pain".
Thanks again!!!!
Careful, God does not 'produce' pain or distress, but allows it...Just thought I should point that out.
I was quoting St. Basil. In the quote Ioannes posted, St. Basil says: "As therefore the physician is a benefactor even if he produces distress or pain in the body".
What I meant was what temporarily seems as pain or distress just like what a physician does. I would think that it would be like a doctor performing a surgery that would cause temporary pain in the body for a short while so that we may be healed of something larger. I think in this way God "produces" pain.
In the case of what happened in Alexandria, I think God allowed it, but didn't cause it. However in our daily lives when there may be what seems to be causing pain, but actually is looking to heal us for the future, I think God causes that.
Would that be correct to say? Or does St. Basil mean something else by produces? I suddenly got very confused. Please let me know if I'm on the right track here.
GB
Please don't ever hesitate to correct me, even if you think you might be mistaken, because through that I can learn more. Thanks also for explaining I have a much clearer picture now.
God Bless you